Registering and recording means for musical instruments.



y B. S. DEAN. REGISTERING AND RECORDING MEANS FOR MUSIGAL INSTRUMENTS.

APPLIOATION rnjnn NOV.21, 190.

Patented Aug. 10, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

" INVENTO HIS ATTORNEYS B. s. DEAN. REGISTERING AND REGORDING MEANS FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 21, 1906.

Patented Aug. 10, 1909.

Y for Musical Instruments,

I vices. for each tone,

Iliad to the accompa pression desired.

"(T raderans,

"BENJAMIN s. DEAN, or santainorsco, CALIFORNIA;

nneis'rnnrne an]; 'nnioonnrne inn-ans For. nineteen rnsrnmann'rs.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 10, race.

Application filed November 21, 1906. Serial No. M4362.-

To all whom it may concern: v

V 'Be it known that I, BENJAMIN S. DEAN, a citizen of. the United States-of America, and

a resident of San Francisco, county of San Francisco, State of California, have invented certain new and useful lmprove-' Recording Means.

merit in Registering and of which the fol lowing is a specification, reference being Inying drawings, forming apart thereof. v

, My invention relates toimprovements in registering and recording'means for musical instruments, and particularly tomeans controlled In its. operation by a musical instrument when played to perforate music record sheets, such music record sheets being at.

tel-Ward employed for producing'the melody played. The particular class of music-rec- 20f sheet is one which is arranged to have severalperforations therein for each-tone to be produced differently located widthwise of the sheet in accordance with the for each of the finger keysof the instrumenton which the original melody is play'ed, and which is, directly'operated by movements of the said finger keys or someother moving partof the instrument action. .The inertia bar isarranged to be moved different distances, maccordance with the strength of the impulse transmitted thereto, and properly located perforating devices are operated in accordance with the distance which tlieinertia bars are caused to travel.

I preferpbly employ three perforating de the 1 three perforating devices. representing, however, a; possible variation of seven difierent degrees of expression intensity. Referrmg to the perforating devices'as l, 2 and-3,-we may asdevice 2w1ll produce a perforation repref snme-that perforating device 1 produces a perforation in the record sheet which rep-' resents an intensity of one unit; perforating senting an intensity of two units; perforating devices and 2 Wlll then produce perfor-ationsv ,taken together, may. represent an of three units; then, if per ting dev e Elbe made to produce a .To cause the production of a perforation properly. located, I provide an operating bar, which. I herein term an'in ertia bar, one i which similar playing tion. representing four units, perd 3 will represent five -units, 2- and 3'siX units, and 1,2 and 3 seven units. Themeans for producingtones, of this description forms" no part of the present invention, but, for a complete understanding or my system in this connection, I will herein refer to a co-pending application Serial No. 288,987, filed November 25th,

1905, in which such system is shown and sion intensities with Whichthey were originally produceda p In order that the present invention may be thoroughly understood, 1 will now proceed to describe the same with reference to the accompanying drawings which point out the novel features in claims.

In the drawings: ldigure '1 is a view in side elevation of a mechanism of this descr ption. Fig. 2 1s a diagrammaticview illustrate certain embodiments thereof, and will then showing theelectrical connections and circuits which cause forating devices. mentary View of the end'of the inertiabar including thereby. Fig.4: is, a view in transverse section of the inertia bar. Fig. Sis a view in side elevation of a structure constituting a the operation of the permodificatlonof the mechanism shown in the other figures. Fig. 6' is a detail face view of the stationary contact niembenthereof.

Referring first to the. form of mechanism shown in Figs. 1 to 42 inclusive, 10 designates conventionally the ordinary finger key, or

the .contact' member carried Fig. 3. is a detail frag-'- other movable part in a musical instrument action, the operation of which and of similar finger keys is intended to be employed for the productionof a perforation record, by may be effected in automatic instruments. An inertia bar 131 is pivotally mountedupon a fixed pivot 12 at. a point beneath the said finger 'key 10, the finger .key bar by means of a link13, a spring 14,.an'd

being connected with the inertiaan adjustable connection. The said adjust- ,is pivoted to thebar 11 at other end of which i 1t as a tube of sti :29 carried by the link 13, arranged to engage and rock the bell crank cause the button 29 to able connection includes a stirrup 15, which 16, a stem 17 secured to the stirrup, and a turnbuckle l8 byinanipulation of'which suitable adjustment is obtained. 19 designates an extension, one end of which is secured fast to the link 13, and the oosely surroundsthe stem 17, and, butting against the face of the said inertia bar 11, constitutes a lin'iiting stop to limit the extent of movement of the -1nertia bar 11 toward the-finger key It).

under the influence of the swing it.

The inertia bar .11 is preferably so constructed as to be present form of my invention, I have shown paper (see Fig. 4 which shows across section thereof), the tube of paper being reinforced by wooden blocks 20 at various points and wherever additional strength is needed. A guide 2l is secured beneath the said bar upon which an adjustable weight 22 is mounted, said weight being; adjustable toward and away from the pivotal point 12, so that the moment of inertia of the bar with. respect to its pivotal point may be varied. At its extreme outer end, the inertia bar carries a contact member 23, preferably made of thin spring metal. This contact mein'beris adapted to engage *ith various contact pieces carried by a member 24, here shownin the form of a lever pivoted at and adapted to be moved toward and away from the inertia bar 11. Near its upper end the said member 24 is connected by means of a'link 26 with a bell crank lever 27 pivoted about a stationary point 28. 'llhe'other-arm of the bell crank lever is arranged in the path of movement of a" button thes'aid button lever 27 upon its pivotal support 28 every thne'thefinger key 10 is operated. The said member 24 is retracted to a normalrest position by meansof a spring 30, a stop 31 liniiting the said rearward movement when the finger key 10 is operated. The first effect will be to rock the inertia bar 11 upon its pivotal support 12, lifting the free end thereof, which will cause the contact member 23 to travel along'in front of the face of the contact pieces 32 carried-by the member 24. The final movement of the finger key will operate the bell crank lever 27, so as to pull the member 24: over toward the inertia certain of the contact pieces v with the contactmember 23. The contact member 23 is arranged to close circuit between cer'tain of the contact pieces 32 when 32 to engage such contact is made, and-to operate. perfo rating devices in accordance with just which contact pieces are engaged;

In the'diagrammatic view Fig. 2, ref

ci'ence characters 33,-34' and 35 represent or lever 2-t.

turc let as light as possible. in thesaid ltoman characters member 23 carried by the ball, thereby compelling of the iigure representing substantially a face view of the end portion of the member These perforating deviccs may indicated conventionally in the punches 52 carried by the armaand co-acting dies 53 secured in 7 suitable fixed positions. By tracing;- out the circuits, it will be seen that there are seven sets of contact pieces through which circuit may be closed to producca single, multiple or nzrnmtutive action of the perforating devices 3i and 35. in thesa id diagrammatic view Fig. 2, I have marked oh the various groups of contact members 32 bythe Roman characters 1 to VII inclusive, the representing the varying intensities of expression recorded by the perforating devices.

'he manner in which the various groups of circuit members-32 are selected by the member 25 of the bar 11 is as followsrlf '9 the finger hey it) be depressed gently, so as to producea very soft tone, the inertia bar fil willbc caused to travel the entire dis lance permitted, so that, whcn tinally the lever 24- is moved forward, circuit will be closed through the group of circuit closing members rcpicscniet. by the reference character I, and which are located at the extremity of the member 24. If, on the other hand, the ting r licy it) with a sharp blow, the inertia of the bar 11 will oppose moveznc t thereof, which inertia will have to be overcome by the spring 14;. This inertia will be overcon'ie with different.

comprise, as til'tt'flflllgc rapidities bv the spring 1st in exact pro- 105.

portion to the intcnsit' of the blow given to the key 10, and, as'thelevcr, l0 always operates topull the nienibtr 24: forward at.

the end of its stroke, dili'crcnt groups of circuitclosingmembers 3-2 will engage the rod 1,l,'as will be well understood. it the greatest possible iinpactive force be delivered to the key 10 the member 24; will be moved forward -be- .i'orethe inertia bar will have had time to make any appreciable upward movement, and hence circuit will be closed through the group VII of circuit closing pieces 32, and

the various degrees of intensity with which the key 10- is struck between the maximum and the minimum will result in engagement ofthe other groups of circuit closing pieces between I and VII.

In Figs. 5 and 6 I' have shown modification of this, but, acting upon exactly the same principle. In this, case a bar 40 is employed, which is connected to the key lever or other part of the musical instrument action by a link 41, and is pivoted at 412 to a pivot pin which is carried by arod 43, the

a. slight is depressed 100 lower end of which is plunged into a liquid,

and is provided with a headset. A spring 4 5 tends to return the bar 40 to a normalposition, stops 46 anace limiting such remm mox 'einent. r In this instance, a quick blow will lift :the free end of the bar carry ing the contact member all the way up before the part carrying the pivot pin l2 is able to move, but, if the linger key is struck with a softer blow, the member-{l3 will be able to move upward more 'or, lessagainst the resistance or the liquid in the vessel 47, which acts directly upon the top of the head/l4. ln this case, therefore, it will be seen that the inertia of the bar iO is -re-v s sted to a greater or less degree, 1n accordance with the impactive force transmitted to the said lever, by the liquid in the vessel 47, and a n'oportionate degree of movement will be tmnsniitted to the said bar in exact accordance with the-intensity of the blow.

Groups of contact pieces 48, similar to the contact pieces 32 in the other structure, are

herein provided, the contact pieoesin the present instance, however, being stationary. The .bar 40 carries a contact member e9, which operates onlywhenthe bar is tend- .ing to return" to its normal position. That is to say, 'when the bar ismovingupward electriqcircuit is not closed, the said member 49 then resting upon an insulating part- 50; but, on the return movementor while the haris at rest, thesaidmember'- 4%) is in normal engagement with a metallic piece 51,which forms a common return for all.

the perforating devices, The contact member 49 isvery flexible and hence the frictional resistance in running over the surface ofcthe contact'pieces will not be sufficient to unduly, retard the movement of the bar at that end-thereof 'lt-will be'n'oted that,

while the mechanism shown in Fig. employs a spring 45 connected with the inertia bar-I40, said spring 45 hasthe function only of returning thesaid bar to anlormal position,.and in'no way 'acts'as a yielding device, as'does the spring 14 of the mechanism shown in Fig-f1; The liquid contained in the. vessel 4%, together with the part e3, ist,

acts as yielding device to yieldingly o pose'movements of the bar 40, in proportion to; the force oftheblow imparted or transmitted thereto, while, in the mechanism shown ,.-in*Fig 1, the spring 14f operates for this purposei g WhatjI claim-is:-

1. ln'ian apparatus of the class described, th'e'combination, with a movable part adapted to-be operated by ablow'imparted there-- to, of meanscontrolling the extent of move ment thereof in proportion to the force of the blow: delivered, and recording means controlled by the said'part in accordance" with its-extentof movement.

- ,2. In an apparatus of the classdescribed,

' ed to g .to, yielt the combination witha pivoted inertia bar,

the combination with a pivoted inertia bar,-

- ment.

the combination with an inertia bar, and

means for controllingthe movement thereof in accordance with the force of a-blow imparted thereto, of electric clrcuitsfcloscd in accordance with the extent of movement of said =inert1a bar, and recording means con trolled bythe said circults. v

- 2}. In an apparatus of the class described, the comb} i ed by 3." blow imparted therecans for opposing the movement of said part,'and an element operated by the moving part but controlled as to the extent of its movements bythe said yielding means, of recording means controlled by the of an inertia weight adjustably mounted thereonjyielding means for opposing the force of a 'blow impartedthereto, and-recording means controlled by said inertia bar inaccordance withthe extent of its'm'ove- 6; In an apparatus of the class described, the combinationwith a pivoted inertia bar,

circuit closing means carried thereby, means for imparting movements to said bar, and yielding means for opposing the-force of a blow employed for moving said bar, of-a plurality of contactpiecesforming circuit terminals for engagen'icnt with the circuit closing member carried by said bar, and an electrical recording means in circuit with said contact pieces. y 7. In an' apparat-us of the class described,

on with a movable part-adaptf the combination with amovable part adapted to be operated by a blow imparted thereto, and yielding means for opposing.the' forceof the blow to regulate the amount of movement imparted to the movable part in accordance" with the force of the said blow,

oi; a plurality of perforating devices, and ,means for operating the same individually or collectively in accordance with'the extent of movement'ofthe said, movable part.

" '8. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination *with a movable part adapt.- ed to;be, operated by a blow imparted there- ,to, and yielding means for. opposing 'the force of the blow to regulate the amount 'ofmovementimparted to the movable part in accordance with the force of .the said blow, of a plurality of perforating devices, and means for operating same individually,

vgl aao as Collectively or permutatively in a'ricordance l with the extent of movementof the said l movable part. l f). In an appa'ratus of th class described. the vomhination with a movable part adapt-. ed to be operated by a blow imparted thereto, and yielding means for opposing the Force of the blow to regulate the :lj'llOHllll of movement imparted to the movable part in :u'conlmu'e with the force of the Slll(l blow. of u vim-nit (losing member cziri'ieil by said purl. :1 lllkllllfll'lllL'HllgHl in move toward and away from the said circuit closer, contact pieces carriedby said memher, and means for moving the said contactpiei-e carrying member to mlgage the cil'vuif closer carried by said movahlo part after the said movable part has conmlel'ml its mowmenf. I

BENJAMIN h. l)ll.\.\'. \Vil nessvs: (hconui: A. Mucxl-z.

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